China’s claim over Scarborough without basis in intl law – Año

NATIONAL Security Adviser Eduardo Año yesterday said China’s assertion of its sovereign rights over the Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, in the West Philippine Sea in the South China, lacks basis.

Año, also the chairman of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, maintained it is the Philippines that has sovereign rights over the shoal, about 124 nautical miles from Masinloc town in Zambales.

China gained control of the shoal in 2012 following a standoff between Chinese and Philippine government ships. Since then, the Chinese have been preventing Filipino fishermen from fishing inside the shoal’s lagoon.

The Chinese Coast Guard, in a statement on Tuesday, reiterated it has indisputable sovereignty over the shoal and its adjacent waters.

It said Philippine personnel illegally intruded in the area on January 28 and were warned to leave. It said the interaction was “professional and standardized.”

The Chinese Coast Guard said it will always enforce the law in China’s jurisdiction, adding it will safeguard China’s national sovereignty, maritime rights and interests.

Responding to the Chinese statement, Año said the shoal is an integral part of Masinloc, Zambales and is well within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

Año said the Philippines exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the shoal, as well as the waters and continental shelf surrounding it, under the international law.

He said the shoal is an “important fishing ground” for the fishermen of Zambales, Bataan and Pangasinan.

“China’s repeated claims of sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc has no basis in international law or in fact. International law is clear. China cannot, therefore, lawfully exercise sovereignty over it,” said Año.

Citing the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s excessive claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, Año said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) superseded China’s “historic rights.”

“Therefore, China cannot claim entitlements in areas of the ‘nine-dashed line,’ now ‘10-dashed line,’ that exceed UNCLOS limits,” he said.

Año said early Spanish